Customer Reviews

Fool's Run (An Orbit book)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"The vision is light." Seven years ago, a vision drove Terra Viridian to the murder of fifteen hundred innocents underneath the blazing sky of Desert Sector. Now she waits within the orbiting penal colony known as the Underworld, doomed to a life sentence, seeing nothing but the endless, enigmatic vision unfolding before her eyes. On Earth, Patroller Aaron Fisher, whose wife was one of Terra's victims, searches for answers and for the missing sister of Terra Viridian: he too is driven by a vision. The Underworld revolves in its double ring of light and dark, Terra waits and Aaron searches...but things are changing. Quasar, the Scholar, Gambler, the Nebraskan: they are the band Nova on a off-world tour beginning at the Underworld, led by the Magician, a musician who can play anything, who shares in the alien visions unfolding within Terra Viridian's mind. And joining them is the Queen of Hearts, a musician who hides her past behind a mask of gold; who, like Orpheus, will go down into the Underworld in search of the thing she loves...in search of a vision.

Set in a futuristic environment, where Earth is divided into fourteen sectors under the eye of the Free World Government, where the weapon of choice is the light-rifle and sol-cars form daily air traffic among the towering ghettos, "Fool's Run" proves itself capable of blending both the distant future and the ancient past, the immediacy of the present and the atmosphere of myth. Its language is rich, precise, effortlessly describing the alien imagery of Terra's vision and the bar where Nova plays; characters reveal themselves through speech and action, not through long exposition; and the plot unfolds with the certainty of legend. Patricia McKillip's exploration into the world of science fiction is not to be missed. "Pick a card from Fortune's morning," and read "Fool's Run." It will not disappoint.

"Fool's Run" is one of the many good books written by Patricia McKillip prior to her current run of fantasy novels. It's definitely worth reprinting, and hopefully it will be sometime.

Terra Viridian is a young woman on a colony, who sees a vision and destroys fifteen hundred people with a laser rifle. Deemed insane and dangerous, she lapses into a waking coma and is sentenced to live in an orbital prison called the Underworld. There, she spends seven years stuck in her strange, inhuman vision of light.

Seven years later, she is subjected to the experimental dream machine, and for the first time other people see her seemingly insane visions. A man named Aaron Fisher searches for the long-lost sister of Terra Viridian, after his pregnant wife was killed by Terra. Elsewhere, a band of cubers come to the Constellation Club; one of them is the enigmatic Magician, and the other is the Queen of Hearts, a beautiful woman with heart pins in her red hair and a golden mask hiding her face -- and her tragic past. But there is a connection between the Queen of Hearts and Terra Viridian. And when the vision touches the Magician as well, he and his friends set out to find what it is that made Terra kill those people, and what dreams of light.

As with her fantasy books, Patricia McKillip falls into no plot cliches. Though this space opera contains some elements that all SF books have to some degree, there's a fantastical bent to it all, and a lack of the usual parts such as aliens, ultra-powerful ships, and so on. This is a story where you can't predict what is out there, and can't guess what and why.

The characters start out as enigmas and gradually unfold in front of the reader. We have Aaron Fisher, the man tormented by his lost love; the beautiful Queen of Hearts, who is determined to keep her past a secret until it becomes vitally important; Terra Viridian, a hollow-eyed prisoner locked in her dream for years, until she has to wake up; and the Magician, perhaps my favorite character, who is in some ways the most mysterious and entertaining person in the whole book.

The writing is starker than her fantasy books, except in the last fourth of it; there we have the dreamy beauty of language that McKillip is famous for. She balances it nicely, as such language would be totally out of place in a grubby bar than out in the stars over an alien planet. We are also treated to more of McKillip's musings on revenge, loss, and forgiveness. There is some innuendo unsuitable for kids, but this is fine for teens and adults.

One of the most original SF books I've read...

The year is unknown, and the setting hauntingly familiar. In the orbiting penal colony known as the Underworld, convicted mass murderer Terra Viridian dreams of light. An enigmatic musician known only as the Queen of Hearts travels with her band, Nova, carrying secrets behind the gold mask of her face. A federal agent, his wife murdered by Terra Viridian, searches for answers in silence. In classic McKillip style, these disparate elements are woven together by detailed, surreal prose into a story as futuristic as anything by Theodore Sturgeon, as rich and compelling as the ancient myth of Orpheus. Science fiction is not a field into which Patricia McKillip seems to venture often, but "Fool's Run" proves that she should make the attempt more often. Here, the results are stunning.

I came to Patricia McKillip's science fiction from her fantasy and was immediately hooked by the tale of two sisters, one of them a musician and the other, a visionary, mad-dog killer. The musical imagery was especially evocative in this story of a futuristic Orpheus a.k.a. the Queen of Hearts, who rescues her sister from the Underworld (an orbiting penal colony). The killer sister, Terra Viridian comes to the best end possible, after we discover why she killed fifteen hundred of her fellow soldiers. That mystery is the heart and plot of the book.

"Fool's Run" is beautifully written, with characters that are drawn with the precision of diamond on glass. All of them are totally transparent; totally innocent. I ached for all of them, especially for Terra Viridian. The ending is unsettled. The King of the Underworld gives up his throne and joins the Queen of Hearts' band---a superficially happy conclusion. But the thing that was responsible for the deaths of fifteen hundred soldiers is now watching them from orbit.

I've picked this book up multiple times the past couple of years and somehow could NEVER get past the third chapter. I'm not sure if I was just very determined this time, but I was shocked to discover that the book is sectioned into three parts. If you can get past the first section (Queen of Hearts) the last two are more entertaining. I found myself actually wanting to find out the mystery behind Terra Viridian's Visions. There isn't really a payoff at the end and a relationship between two characters is never fully explored. I guess since this book is such a departure from her usual fare, it's worth a glance for the curious. But truthfully it has put me in the mood to read Stephen R. Donaldson's Gap Cycle again.

Patricia Mckillip is a beautiful writer. Her stories are told with grace and style. Her characters are compelling. Many of her plots offer some refreshing angle or perspective on a tired theme. So I was shocked when I failed to engage with this book. I thought it must be a fluke and re-read it. No luck the second time either. I guess female musicians and her twin sister soldier plus the mysterious twin bond isn't compelling. That's it. Anymore than that and from my point of view there won't be any reason at all to read the book. If you are a Mckillip fan, this might be one you get from the library before you decide purchase.

This novel exemplifies everything wise and wonderful in McKillip's art. There's a plot, a mystery (which the Editorial Review on this page annoyingly solves--don't read it!), memorable characters, lyrical prose, and a kind of clarity that much of her recent work seems to lack. I loved Fool's Run when it came out, and I still love re-reading it.

Even if you're not a fan of science-fiction this book is for you!

It has the vivid imagery that most Patricia A. McKillip books do. Reading this book is like being in a wonderous dream. You never want to put it down. The characters and setting are realistic. I canonly hope for a sequel.